Connect with us

Subscribe for latest updates

July 2010

Investors have routinely watched the volatility indicators like the VIX to measure investor “fear” in the market via the implied volatility of the underlying index options. In recent years, they’ve been able to partake in spikes in volatility as a portfolio hedge via the exchange traded notes, otherwise known as ETNs (VXX) and (VXN) which […]

During the recent financial collapse, the perpetual bears had their day, crowing about how they were right all along and the US was in for a cataclysmic crash. Their chorus grew especially loud during the March lows, which in retrospect was the worst time in decades to either sell your long positions or enter into […]

It was a tumultuous week in the market with events ranging from the Goldman settlement and disappointing earnings elsewhere in Financials to Apple’s mea culpa to less than stellar jobs numbers. Broader indices ended the week slightly down with the S&P500 (SPY) losing 1.2% and the NASDAQ (QQQQ) losing 0.6%. Volatility picked up and the […]

I was a bit skeptical when I started to see “actively managed ETFs” popping up over the past couple years, so I thought I’d take a look at one of the larger ones and see how it’s performed vs. the broader market. In looking at the PowerShares Active AlphaQ (PQY), I was actually surprised by […]

Making stock and mutual fund picks is big business. Financial websites and magazines offer individual investors great ideas every day – and plenty of bad ones, as well. Unfortunately, there are few tools helping investors sort out the good ideas from the bad ones. LikeAssets is a new website highlighting the wide range of returns […]

Investors are starting to pay more attention to Utility Stocks and Utility ETFs of late given the low interest rate environment that doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. With the 10-year Treasury hovering around 3% and the prospect of loss of principal one bonds when rates do rise eventually, the prospect of equities […]